Brands always strive to create the best possible experience for all its stakeholders, However, sporadically the unexpected shows up, similar to this black swan that landed on us crippling the global economy and posing unprecedented challenges to brands. However the hallmark of a brand-with-substance would understand and respond sagaciously and prudently whilst brands with just a mere hollow core would be exposed, unfolding its true brand identity as opposed to what was communicated in an effort to create a brand image which was not necessarily the truth, but mere fantasy. Gone are the days that society looked solely to governments to handle such situations. Brands are expected to do good and stakeholders are actively expecting brands to step in and take a greater role in positively impacting society. And responding to the request intently is a brand's responsibility. and if responded aptly and intelligently the brand in return would strengthen its social license to operate (SLO) and improve its overall brand health.

1. What brands
should be doing
BRANDS DURING A CRISIS
ARTICLE BY SOHAN JAYASENA

2. BRANDS
DURING A
CRISIS
WHAT BRANDS
SHOULD BE
DOING
Focus on mind share rather than market share
Stay relevant and offer solutions
Get to the bottom of the pyramid
Be honest and review your brand and if required,
correct it
Offer relief and hope when it's within the brand's
scope
Respond Quickly
Act prudently and reinforce the brand's personality
whilst adjusting the brands 'feeling meter' to high
Improve the brand's legitimacy and Trust
Helping fight the pandemic itself
Protect employees and the community
Focus on the brand's impact on the ESG matrix
Holding Back Strategy

3. Brands should focus on how they could acquire a greater share
of its consumer's mind, and remain as the top of mind brand in
its respective category.
Certain brands that are non-essentials would be required to
temporarily halt sales promotion and redirect there marketing
and communication on the current needs of the customer.
Reassurance, motivation, messages of safety and hope to name
a few.
FOCUS ON MIND SHARE RATHER THAN MARKET
SHARE

4. STAY RELEVANT AND OFFER SOLUTIONS
Brands should adjust and innovate and move toward digital &
virtual modes to engage with their consumers. Thereby
strengthening its SLO (Social license to operate) and mental
availability.
Brands such as 'Easyhome' turned to 'Tabao Live' Alibaba group's
dedicated live streaming channel. 'Peloton' is offering a 90-day
subscription trial for its at-home workout app.
In this time of crisis, brands that provide innovative and intuitive
solutions are that which would stand this test of time.

5. Brand managers strive to position their brand and its
functionality to the top of the pyramid of Maslow's Hierarchy of
Needs, communicating how their brand assists its consumers to
reach the state of self-esteem and self-actualization. In an
attempt to create greater customer value.
However, a prudent manager would redirect the brand on a
temporary avenue of positioning the brand in how it addresses a
customer's basic physiological and safety needs.
Attribution - https://bit.ly/3clKHLK
GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID

6. Brand managers who feel unsatisfied with how the brand is facing
up to the crisis should relook their brand's makeup.
Areas such as it's brand personality, promise, purpose, values,
attributes and even the brand architecture should be considered
and reworked thus enabling the brand to withstand the storm and
be of much strength to face the post-covid19 era.
BE HONEST AND REVIEW YOUR BRAND AND IF
REQUIRED, CORRECT IT.

7. The quote says it all. Empathize with your customers,
offer them relief, give some hope and they will never
forget how you made them feel. Kudos! to brands such
as Standard Chartered Bank SL for providing a cash
delivery service. And a 2-month moratorium for all its
personal loan clients, including a 3-month moratorium
for loans below LKR 1 Million. And the highlight is that
this relief is offered as a gesture of goodwill by the bank
even without a client requesting the facility.
OFFER RELIEF AND HOPE WHEN ITS WITHIN THE BRAND'S SCOPE
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people
will forget what you did, but people will never forget how
you made them feel"
Maya Angelou
Source : https://bit.ly/2VbPOZd

8. Talk is cheap, they say. And it's certainly appropriate and logical in the world
of brands. Brands are expected to utilize its resources, capabilities,
specializations and respond swiftly, provide solutions. Not just talk.
And Dankotuwa Porcelain did just that, Laying aside manufacturing world-class
tableware, they got to work on manufacturing steam inhalers for homes &
health care establishments assisting the fight against Covid19
RESPOND QUICKLY
Source : https://twitter.com/DankotuwaSL

9. A brand that totally scored points on this field
would be Nike. The brand reinforced its tag line
'Play for the world' was shed in a different light
providing a word of motivation and a whole new
perspective to its brand standing.
Brands are required to speak with stories.
Ensuring that content is localized and motivate
people to look forward to a brighter future.
And Coca-cola did it as well by placing the right
communication at the right place, Social
distancing message with space between its
signature writing at Times square.
ACT PRUDENTLY AND REINFORCE THE BRAND'S PERSONALITY
WHILST ADJUSTING THE BRANDS 'FEELING METER' TO HIGH
Source: https://twitter.com/Nike

10. During the lifetime of the brand, marketing &
communication would have carried diverse
promises. Ranging from promises on the product
itself, employee care, stakeholder relationship or
merely the listed brand values.
Now is the time that brands are expected to
stand to which was promised and live up to it.
And brands that do, would experience a hike in
brand legitimacy and trust in their stakeholder's
mind.
And that's what HSBC SL did. They lived up to
their campaign #togetherwethrive and delivered
a host of relief measures for its clients.
Reaffirming its value of thriving together.
IMPROVE THE BRAND'S LEGITIMACY AND TRUST
Source :https://bit.ly/3baVNTH

11. Considering the dynamics of the business and
social environments, businesses are expected
to take a leading role in providing real
solutions. Therefore brands with appropriate
resources and capabilities should take a
leading role thus further establishing the
brand.
Fine examples of this would be the effort
made by Ceylinco Life to provide the much
needed medical requirements and surgical
boots to leading hospitals in Sri Lanka. And
Millenium IT a subsidiary of Ambeon Holdings
provided Cisco video conferencing solutions
to the health care sector to battle Covid19.
HELPING FIGHT THE PANDEMIC ITSELF
Source :https://bit.ly/2xnIP6tSource :https://bit.ly/2xwoGuS

12. PROTECT EMPLOYEES AND THE COMMUNITY 1/2
This is the opportunity for brands with honest intentions of placing its
employees and community over profits to shine. Certain brands such as
CAL considering the period of time had reportedly credited the salaries
way ahead of time and sent grocery packs directly to its employee's
homes which would certainly tick a lot of boxes. Kudos to CAL!

13. And Creative Hub an up-and-coming Creative digital
agency brand has taken the bold initiative of
building a community via its newly developed
platform unied2care.com. Thereby providing
essentials to the needy and soft support such as
counseling and advice by professionals for them that
require direction during a crisis.
Source : https://bit.ly/3co6AKa & https://bit.ly/2Vgs0n7
PROTECT EMPLOYEES AND THE COMMUNITY 2/2
Source : https://bit.ly/3co6AKa & https://bit.ly/2Vgs0n7

14. FOCUS ON THE BRAND'S IMPACT ON THE ESG MATRIX
Post-crisis certain brands would require substantial investment to get back
on track. Therefore their impact on the environment, social and
governments is critical in attracting investors. Primarily the investor who is
socially conscious. Therefore been genuine and initiating efforts that
would positively impact the environment, society, and governments would
be critical.

15. HOLDING BACK STRATEGY 1/3
"If you have nothing helpful to say, keep quiet", They say. However, brands
should not reach the position of having nothing meaningful to say. Brands
have diverse financial standings, marketing budgets, therefore donating
millions of Rupees or investing in billion rupee projects would not be
feasible for all Therefore a search for alternatives is critical at this
moment of time.

16. Certain brands prefer to stay in the dark until the storm passes by as they
are afraid of saying the wrong thing. However, that would negatively
affect the brand. Moreover, that would not be the most appropriate and
long term focused approach. As the availability of information makes it
tough for a brand to stay quiet for long. Competitors would take the lead
and increase their share of voice in the market, simultaneously bringing
the down brand's social license to operate.
HOLDING BACK STRATEGY 2/3

17. How the brand intends to innovate and face the post-crisis life
Reassure and offer a positive perspective
Reduce and minimize the brand and marketing communication for sales
purposes as done during the pre-crisis
Therefore a brand with no real assets to display on its effort to fight the
pandemic could offer a range of emotional and mental support to its
customers via its digital platforms. And the strategy could outline the
following.
HOLDING BACK STRATEGY 3/3

18. #BATTLINGCOVID19
#MANAGING BRANDSTHROUGHCRISIS
There is always light at
the end of the tunnel,
we will get there.